Miami Marlins
This is the most complete record book ever written about the Florida Marlins. It includes every record in batting, pitching, and fielding of every player in Marlins history.
Typical record books eliminate old records when new ones are created but this book never eliminates a record, simply adding new records to existing chronology lists. In this way, no players or their records are ever forgotten and the history of Marlins records will may be rightfully preserved.
This book is certain to stimulate fan interest because it introduces three never-before-seen features, including “chronology lists,” which show every record in the exact order in which they were established, beginning with the team’s first year of play in 1993 and ending with the present record holder. The chronology lists are dated so that is it easy to see how long each record lasted before being broken and every subsequent record breaker.
The second feature is the “Record Holders Lists,” found at the end of each chapter. Since records are listed in chronological order, they are easy to count, and we can learn which players have established the most records in batting, pitching, and fielding.
The third feature is the newly developed individual players’ “Record Profiles.” These profiles contain every record a player has created, show how long each record lasted before broken, and who every record breaker was. Do you know which Marlin players have established the most records in batting, pitching and fielding? This information is revealed along with rookie and managers’ records.
CHRONOLOGY LISTS
Perhaps the best way to fully understand the chronology lists is to use the season home run record as an example. The list is developed in this manner:
| HOME RUNS | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1993 1994 1996 |
Orestes Destrade Gary Sheffield Gary Sheffield |
20 27 42 |
The list above shows that Orestes Destrade was the club’s first home run champion, when he reached the seats 20 times in 1993. His record only lasted for one year before Gary Sheffield broke it with 27 round trippers. Sheffield would then break his own mark in 1996 when he blasted 42 home runs. This record still stands today.
Every category of batting, pitching, and fielding uses this chronology concept, a complete system of record keeping that is easy to read and comprehend.
TEAM HISTORY
The Marlins were an expansion team added to the National League in 1993. Their first manager was Rene Lachemann, who led the team from 1993 to part of the 1996 season.
The Marlins won 64 games in their first year, slipped to 51 wins in their second year, but reached a new high in 1995 with 67 victories. Lachemann would leave during the 1996 season in favor of Cookie Rojas, who gave way to John
Boles. When the season ended, the roaring Marlins had won a club high of 80 games and the front office was ready to add needed players in an attempt at bringing home a World Championship.
The 1997 season began with Jim Leyland as manager, Jeff Conine on first base, Luis Castillo at second, Edgar Renteria at shortstop, Bobby Bonnilla at third, Charlie Johnson behind the plate, Gary Sheffield in rightfield, Devon White in centerfield, and Moises Alou in leftfield.
The pitching staff consisted of Alex Fernandez, Kevin Brown, Al Leiter, Livan Hernandez, Robb Nen, Jay Powell, Felix Heredia, Tony Slaunders, Pat Rapp, Mark Hutton, and Rick Helling as the main contributors.
When the season ended, the new Marlins had won 92 games and their first Division Title. This was a record for the fastest rise to the top by an expansion team in baseball history. The fans went crazy and the excitement continued as the Marlins swept through the playoffs and met the Cleveland Indians in their first World Series. It was a thrilling seven-game victory for the surprising Marlins.
But even with this great success, the team was losing money and was forced to sell off all of its starting players with the exception of Edgar Renteria. The new Marlins team would end up in last place in 1998 and they would have to begin all over again.
Things began looking better in 1999 when the re-building Marlins won 10 more games than the year before, and won 15 more games in 2000. They would lose three more in 2001, and then win three more in 2002. In the meantime, Jim Leyland was replaced by John Boles, Boles left in favor of Tony Perez, and Perez was replaced by Jeff Torborg. Torborg began the 2003 season but when things were going bad, he was replaced by Jack McKeon.
McKeon lit a fire under the team and with the help of newcomers Ivan Rodriguez, Dontrell Willis, Todd Hollandsworth, Miguel Cabrera, Mark Redman, Tim Spooneybarger, Tommy Phelps, and Uqueth Urbina, the Marlins won their second Division Title and would defeat the mighty New York Yankees in the World Series.